Bingo Calls

If you’ve been playing bingo in a club or online then you might have come into contact with some bingo lingo. This way of calling, congratulating and even just chatting has been an integral part of the game for many years. Though it might seem complicated, we’ll ensure that you know your Two Little Ducks from your Cup of Tea in the blink of a Kelly’s Eye.

Where it Started

Bingo dates back for decades, as does the bingo slang used by players and callers too. In busy bingo halls, numbers can sound very similar to one another so callers came up with slang that signified the bingo calls. These terms can be obscure references to the pop culture of the time or simply comments on how the numbers look.

Are they Still Used?

A big part of bingo lingo is how fun it is to use, so players still recognise and use it to this day to add some giggles to the game. Even online, we chat with our roomies using the lingo and live bingo callers still use it too. In fact, instead of replacing bingo calls, new players and technology have brought in new influences to the dictionary. Here are a few examples of where old fashioned terms originated from:

Term

Origin

Uncle Ben (10)

Based on the rhyming characteristics

Goodbye Teens (19)

Signifies the last number in the teens

Half a Century (50)

Half of 100

End of the Line (90)

The last number in 90 ball bingo

The New 1-90

As players become part of the game of bingo the type of calls we use changes too. Instead of older references, the bingo lingo uk has been changing to include more modern slang. These include new rhyming slang like Brad n Jen for number 10, J Lo’s Bum for 21 and Jimmy Choo for 32.

These quirky phrases are more relevant to players now than outdated references like Kelly’s Eye – which was a feature in a comic back in the 1900s. Not every bingo caller will use them though, as some prefer the old school way of calling. A bingo caller is only as good as their slang and how clear they are, so it’s understandable that some prefer to stick with what they know.

Here are some of the older terms that are sometimes still used these days:

NICKNAME

NUMBER

Almost There

89

Anyway Up

69

Bang on the Drum

71

Buckle My Shoe

32

Burlington Bertie

30

Cup of Tea

3

Dancing Queen

17

Doctor’s Orders

9

Garden Gate

8

Jump and Dive

25

Kelly’s Eye

1

Key of the Door

21

Knock at the Door

4

Legs

11

Lucky

7

Never Been Kissed

16

One little duck

2

Two little ducks

22

Unlucky for some

13

Chat Room Abbreviations

Another way that the lingo has changed is the way that we speak to other players, as we’ve adopted new abbreviations. Just like texting, these phrases are shortened down to be easier to type and quicker to chat with. Here’s a dictionary of the most commonly used ones:

Abbreviation

Meaning

WTG

Way to go

WDW

Well done winners

BRB

Be right back

BLNG

Better luck next game

CM

Chat master or chat host

IDK

I don’t know

G2G

Got to go

JK

Just kidding

TYL

Talk to you later

GGA

Good game all

Conclusion

The best way to practice these calls is to go out and play bingo! Check out games with a chat option, live callers and chat games to fully immerse yourself in the game. The more you play, the quicker you’ll decipher what others are saying and you might even come up with a new term yourself!